Missing 15-year-old girl found dead in Clinton

CLINTON, Mass. (WHDH) -- The search for a missing teenager came to a tragic end on Sunday as officials confirmed that a body found in Clinton was that of 15-year-old Mackenzie Hohl.

Police say a Clinton man was out searching for Mackenzie when he found her body in a small body of water behind the Hannaford Plaza on Brook Street around 2 p.m. Sunday. Her body was 30 feet below a path she was cutting through, a possible wrong turn from a shortcut she often took to her grandmother’s home.

The Clinton Police Chief told 7News someone on an ATV dropped her off at the plaza. The chief also told 7News that the Hannaford market has surveillance video showing Hohl walking alone after she had been dropped off.

“I miss her and my heart’s broken and I don’t know how to heal it,” said Sandra Sowa, Mackenzie’s grandmother said. "She'd text me all the time. I'd text her, 'Are you safe?' and she'd send an, 'xoxo,' meaning she was safe. And then her numbers were changed Saturday so I didn't get it. And then I knew in my heart that something was wrong."

“She must have just thought that was the trail and just walked that way and gone off that drop off,” said one man.

Hundreds of people gathered Sunday night at Clinton High School to remember the 15 year old.

Sowa says she knows her granddaughter was at a party where there was drinking. She doesn’t know if alcohol played a role in Mackenzie’s fall or if she was alone at the time.

Mackenzie’s grandmother is taking comfort in the thought that she is with her father, who died last year.

“My heart is breaking and the only thing now is she’s with her dad and she loved her dad. I’m sure he’s got his arm around her,” said Sowa.

"Her dad died two years ago, and my only saving grace for my wife and I right now just hoping they are together," Mackenzie's grandfather said.

The medical examiner has not ruled on an exact cause of death, but police do not suspect foul play.